Agriculture

• Friday, March 11th 2011 - 00:53 UTC

  Decline of bees’ colonies threatens pollination, essential for growing more crops

  

  More than a dozen factors, ranging from declines in flowering plants and the use of memory-damaging insecticides to the world-wide spread of pests and air pollution, may be behind the emerging decline of bee colonies across many parts of the globe.

• Tuesday, March 8th 2011 - 00:08 UTC

  Irish farmers occupy EU offices in Dublin to protest trade talks with Mercosur

  

  Irish farmers occupied Monday afternoon the offices of the European Commission in Dublin, over fears of a multibillion-Euro threat to the livestock industry from Mercosur.

• Saturday, March 5th 2011 - 03:29 UTC

  USDA downplays upbeat forecasts of Argentine soybean harvest

  

  US Department of Agriculture attaches in Buenos Aires have warned against upbeat forecasts for Argentina's soybean harvest, saying many farms missed out on crop-reviving rainfall.

• Monday, February 28th 2011 - 00:09 UTC

  Mercosur researchers create robot to identify drought and disease resistant soybeans

  

  A robot which categorizes soy bean plants according to their capacity to resist drought and make better use of the water resource has been developed by a bio-technology group of Mercosur researchers in Argentina, with European Union support.

• Friday, February 25th 2011 - 21:53 UTC

  Argentine government makes a small gesture towards farmers’ groups

  

  Argentina decreed the dissolution of the controversial ONCCA, (Office for the commercial control of agriculture produce) which was directly involved in market regulation and distribution of subsidies and as such caused much irritation and criticism particularly from farmers’ organizations.

• Wednesday, February 23rd 2011 - 06:32 UTC

  Biotech crops keep advancing and currently cover over a billion hectares

  

  The amount of land devoted to genetically engineered crops grew 10% last year, and 7% in the year before, as farmers in major grain and soy exporting countries such as Brazil and Argentina continued to adopt the new seeds.

• Thursday, February 17th 2011 - 23:01 UTC

  Good harvest year for Argentina farmers and the tax man, in spite of drought

  

  A good crop year for Argentine farmers and the government: export revenue will be up 4 billion US dollars and the tax man will bag an additional 888 million US dollars according to estimates from local grain dealers.

• Wednesday, February 16th 2011 - 22:53 UTC

  Mantega reiterates opposition to French plan for commodity prices regulation

  

  Brazil reiterated opposition to a French plan to impose regulation on commodity prices, saying it could have “negative effects” on major suppliers such as itself. “Brazil is totally opposed to a mechanism of control or regulation of commodity prices,” Finance Minister Guido Mantega told reporters, reiterating a position he gave last week.

• Wednesday, February 16th 2011 - 13:50 UTC

  Up to 10% of rice sold in Chinese markets tainted with heavy metals

  

  Recent research has concluded that 10% of the rice sold in China’s markets is likely to be tainted with heavy metals, but agricultural experts said the pollution is confined to particular regions and there is no call for panic.

• Tuesday, February 15th 2011 - 11:35 UTC

  Extreme weather and panic buying send wheat soaring to new highs

  

  Countries anxious to avoid a repeat of the 2007-2008 global food crisis when they were caught short of grain supplies, have stepped up their buying programs and are driving prices to new highs.